Apple Cider, Apple Wine

As I write this, the room is nice and aromatic, full of the smell of apple.  It seems to me that fermentation enhances the richness of fruit aromas.  It's fantastic.

Here's what I did with all that pressed apple juice.

Apple Cider v.1

This cider is made from the apples from our own small apple tree in the back yard.  It is a Norkent variety that is hardy in our northerly climate.  The yield of apples was modest, and we only obtained about 1 gallon of juice.  I added one crushed Campden tablet to the juice.  Specific gravity of the juice was 1.035, so I added 1.5 cups of sugar, bringing s.g. to 1.050.

Once transferred to a 1 gallon jug, I added 1/4 tsp. of peptic enzyme and 1/4 tsp. of yeast nutrient, stirred.  I was perhaps a little bit too eager and went ahead and sprinkled about 1/3 of a packet of sparkling wine yeast on the surface.  From various recipes and instructions, it seems that peptic enzyme may work better prior to adding yeast and starting fermentation, but I don't see any scientific reason for why that would be the case.  Anyway, I went ahead and added the yeast and placed an airlock on the jug and waited for the magic to happen.

Cider fermentation

Apple Cider v.2

All the other apples that we obtained from generous friends produced in total about 4.5 gallons of juice.  This time, I more or less followed the instructions in the Winemaker's Recipe Handbook (the "purple book").

I added 4 Campden tablets, 1 tsp. of peptic enzyme, and 2 tsp. of yeast nutrient.  The specific gravity for this apple juice was the same as the first batch (1.035).  I added enough sugar to bring the density to 1.055.  I let the juice sit for 24 hours before transferring 3 gallons to a carboy and adding the yeast.


Apple Wine

There was a lot of leftover apple juice from the above cider batch, so I improvised a batch of apple wine.  I diluted the juice to just over 3 gallons, added sugar until the specific gravity was 1.090, and then added a packet of sparkling wine yeast.  That's all.  This batch is currently fermenting away in a plastic bucket with a loose fitting lid.

My plan is to add some spices to the wine when I transfer it to the secondary.  (Does anyone have suggestions on what to add?)